On Beauty and Arrogance

The UK’s Daily Mailpublished an article this week written by a woman named Samantha Brick, who claims that women hate her because she is so beautiful, which has made her life difficult. The article features numerous photos of Brick, as well as anecdotes about all the times men have sent her gifts and women have snubbed her because of her beauty.

Naturally, the internet blew up in reaction to the article. Between comments on the article, tweets, and blogs, the public reaction is obviously strong and polarized. Some women are thanking Brick for revealing this truth while others are berating her for her arrogance.

Yesterday, ITV posted an interview with Brick and a psychologist (who is female), discussing the article, Brick’s claims, and the backlash. The interview is almost ten minutes long, but well worth watching if you’ve read the article and seen some of the reactions:

The female interviewer and the psychologist are obviously angered by Brick’s claims although they are very professional and logical in their assessment and critique, telling Brick that what women actually have an issue with is not Brick’s beauty, but her arrogance and her assumption that women won’t like her.

My initial reaction to Brick’s article, which was confirmed by this interview, is that there’s just something wrong here. Brick’s arrogance dominates anything else about her, and I can’t help but wonder if the arrogance is actually overshadowing some deeper problem. Has she been rejected by people all her life and is looking for a way to explain it? Does she actually dislike other beautiful women and is trying to mask that trait in herself? I don’t know.

What I do know is that her identity is completely tied up in her appearance (and, maybe, the fact that she lives in the French countryside, which she mentions 4 times in the interview). As a woman, I know how difficult it is not to assume people judge you on your looks. I know how difficult it is when you don’t feel beautiful. I know how difficult it is not to identify yourself with your looks. And I can only hope that, for Brick, this experience is eye-opening, that she sees herself as more than just a beautiful woman because she is that, she is more than her appearance. She just, perhaps, needs to figure that out.